Gas Well Deliquification Workshop

Sheraton Hotel, Denver, Colorado February 17 20, 2013

Ball and Sleeve Plunger System Automation Algorithm Utilizing Ball Fall Rates
Ben Smiley & Jordan Portillo Anadarko

Outline
Purpose Pacemaker Benefits/Challenges

Potential Solution
Afterflow Calculation/Process Trial Well Production Performance Conclusions

Feb. 27 - Mar. 2, 2011

2011 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

Purpose
Problem Expanding field with new operators inexperienced at plunger lift operations Objective Create a plunger program capable of running a pacemaker plunger with limited inputs

Feb. 27 - Mar. 2, 2011

2011 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

Recap of Pacemaker Benefits

More cycles per day Ball falls against flow At SI, sleeve falls at ~5000 fpm (57 MPH) Less fluid load per trip Requires less casing pressure to lift Lower Flowing Bottom Hole Pressure Continually lift fluids off formation Creates less line spikes Near-continuous gas flow
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Pacemaker Challenges
Require significant operator time to optimize upon installation Hard to troubleshoot require knowledge and experience

Well conditions are dynamic with fluctuating line pressure and low FBHP
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Potential Solution
IPS Fall Chart by Tubing Pressure

Dynamic After-flow Program

Inputs Surface Flowrate Tubing Pressure Gas Composition Assumptions Output Ball Fall Rate Calculation Ball location

(SPE 93997 [1])

700 600 10 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

Flowrate (MCFD)

500 400 300 200 100 0

1000
Ball Fall Velocity (FPM)

2000

Feb. 17 20, 2013

2013 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

After-flow Calculation
Ball Fall Velocity vs. Pressure
4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 200

(SPE 93997 [1])

Velocity (FPM)

400

600

800 Ball FPM @ input rate

1000

Pressure (psia)
Ball FPM zero gas V Gas FPM @ input rate

Ball Type
Silica Nitrate Ball Titanium Ball Zircon Ceramic Ball Steel Ball Cobalt Ball
Feb. 17 20, 2013

Weight (lbs) 0.164 0.23 0.29 0.387 0.437

Test Flowrate (MCFD)

200 395 495 605 700

Well Surface Pressure (psia) 25 100 125 125 150

Tested Ball Fall Rate (FPM) 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
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2013 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

After-flow Calculation Process

Ball Type Shut-In Depth Gas Gravity Average Well Temperature Tubing ID

Surface Flowrate

Tubing Velocity Z Factor

Ball Fall Velocity with No Flow Ball Fall Velocity with Flow

Surface Pressure

Gas Density

Drag Coefficient

Cumulative Ball Depth

Static Input
Feb. 17 20, 2013

Dynamic Input

Calculation

End Result

2013 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

Pacemaker Cycle Example

[1]

Possible Liquid Load

Calculation Interval

Gas

Ball & sleeve rise together

Sleeve slides over rod ball falls & calculations begin

Ball calculated to be halfway to bottom 10 sec shut in to release sleeve

Ball & sleeve reach bottom close to same time

Ball & sleeve rise together

Feb. 17 20, 2013

2013 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

Candidate Wellbore
Uintah Basin
Greater Natural Buttes

Fluvial Tight Gas

Mesaverde & Wasatch

3,000+ Perforation Interval

Typical LGR = 70 BBL/MMCF

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Production Timeline
Operator Initial Pacemaker Install Pacemaker Program installed

Program Issues

Plant Upsets

Production/Pressure Timeline
PLC Program Installed

12

Initial Problems (Shaded Area)

Program sticking in Pause Open Dropped Offtime Paused Open Retrieval tool Slickline

13

Production Results
PLC Program Installed

14

Plunger Trend
81 Plunger Trips per day

15

Plunger Cycle Example

2
3

1 = Start Ontime

2 = Plunger Arrival 3 = Begin Offtime

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Plunger Lift Optimization Tool (PLOT)

Plunger Lift Correlation Equations and Nomographs Carrol Beeson [2] Calculates the minimum required casing pressure to effectively run a plunger

Well is hovering minimum required casing pressure

Feb. 17 20, 2013

2013 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

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Conclusions
Program successfully ran and optimized a pacemaker setup by pressing START

Lowered casing pressure to the minimum required casing pressure to run a conventional plunger (Beeson Correlation)
High cycle count will reduce scale buildup but increase equipment wear Need more experimental data Realistically suitable for all pacemaker candidate wells? Can this program effectively run without consistent line pressure? Test Step-up/Step-down shut-in depth Possibly help with quick line pressure fluctuations Program installed in future Test Pad
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Questions?
Acknowledgments Dan Volz Trenton Hegerhorst Mark Peck Deven Oaks Callo Lee Braden Robinson IPS

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2013 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Denver, Colorado

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References
1. Garg,D., Lea, J.F., Cox, J., and Oetama, T. New Considerations for Modeling Plunger Performance, SPE 93997, Presented at the Oklahoma City Production Operations Symposium, 2005.

2.

Beeson, C.M., Knox, D.G., and Stoddard, J.H. Plunger Lift Correlation Equations and Nomographs, Petroleum Engineer, 1957.
Lea, J.F., Nickens, H.V., and Wells, M.R. Gas Well Deliquification. 2. Gulf Professional Publishing, 2008.

3.

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Copyright
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Place it on the www.alrdc.com web site, with access to the site to be as directed by the Workshop Steering Committee.
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Other use of this presentation is prohibited without the expressed written permission of the author(s). The owner company(ies) and/or author(s) may publish this material in other journals or magazines if they refer to the Gas Well Deliquification Workshop where it was first presented.
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Disclaimer
The following disclaimer shall be included as the last page of a Technical Presentation or Continuing Education Course. A similar disclaimer is included on the front page of the Gas Well Deliquification Web Site. The Artificial Lift Research and Development Council and its officers and trustees, and the Gas Well Deliquification Workshop Steering Committee members, and their supporting organizations and companies (here-in-after referred to as the Sponsoring Organizations), and the author(s) of this Technical Presentation or Continuing Education Training Course and their company(ies), provide this presentation and/or training material at the Gas Well Deliquification Workshop "as is" without any warranty of any kind, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information or the products or services referred to by any presenter (in so far as such warranties may be excluded under any relevant law) and these members and their companies will not be liable for unlawful actions and any losses or damage that may result from use of any presentation as a consequence of any inaccuracies in, or any omission from, the information which therein may be contained. The views, opinions, and conclusions expressed in these presentations and/or training materials are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Sponsoring Organizations. The author is solely responsible for the content of the materials. The Sponsoring Organizations cannot and do not warrant the accuracy of these documents beyond the source documents, although we do make every attempt to work from authoritative sources. The Sponsoring Organizations provide these presentations and/or training materials as a service. The Sponsoring Organizations make no representations or warranties, express or implied, with respect to the presentations and/or training materials, or any part thereof, including any warrantees of title, non-infringement of copyright or patent rights of others, merchantability, or fitness or suitability for any purpose.

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